Sunday, 27 January 2013

MR IBU — I was once a butcher, photographer, hair stylist

They say John Ikechukwu Okafor, aka Mr Ibu is an
incurable comedian. That is not too difficult to believe knowing how
hilarious he is in his movies.

What most people do not know, however, is how intense he is; and
how comedy largely controls the life of John Okafor. When Jungle
Journalist met him, little did they know that the man seen everyday on
thescreen is the everyday John Okafor.

Trust Mr Ibu, while telling the pathetic story on his journey
from suffering to stardom to Jungle Journalist, he punctuated the tale
with comics to otherwise serious questions. The interview was a
rib-cracker:

When did you begin your career as an entertainer?

This industry has been there. We were just waiting for an eye-opener. Great productions began in 1993 with Living in Bondage. Living in Bondage,
as am talking to you still sells. It is not where I started. The
entertainment industry was there even when I was in the elementary
school. I was entertaining people even from elementary school days.
Everything I do in entertainment I learn from my grandfather.

Your grandfather was also an entertainer?

My grandfather was one of the greatest comedians in his days. My
grandfather was a better comedian than myself. It makes me happy to
think about him. Whenever I think of him and remember the funny things
he used to do, I am inspired to do more than I have ever done before. I
love him so much. He was a replica of Charlie Chaplin. He wasn’t
actually a clown but whenever he talked, people laughed. He did not know
how much he made people laugh.

So, can we say comedy runs in your family?

It is only my grandfather and I. All others do their things
seriously. As I talk to you now, it has been me alone in my local
government in comedy. I tried to train some of my kinsmen in what I do
but many could not cope. May be they are not destined to be part of it
and it will be wrong to force people do what they have no talent for.

Did you foresee yourself becoming who you are today back then?

Am I a witch? How would I have known that this thing is coming to
me? You should have asked if I know when am going to die. Honestly I
never ever saw myself coming this way, not at all. If a soothsayer had
told me, I wouldn’t have believed him. It is one of the miracles in my
life. One day I saw myself going to London. Me, London? (laughs) even
traveling to neighbouring countries, what am I going to do there? I was
nominated alongside other comedians in the category of best comedy
actors in English in Africa. That was 2003. There were 11 or 12 of us
contesting, including Nkem Owoh and a whole lot of others. They came
from Ghana, Egypt, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Kenya and a whole lot of
other nations. They were handpicked from around and only Nkem Owoh was
absent, but he sent a delegate. I won the best comedy actor for the
first time in my life. It was my first time I was going to London and
the first time I got nominated. It was my first time of winning an
award. I never knew people appreciate our stupidity here. If there is no
stupidity in you, there is no comedy in you.

Do you deliberately try to make people laugh, or does it just come out?

The truth is that in everyone’s profession, there are reasons for
you to be natural, if you are really serious about what you do. There
should be very obvious contrasts between you and your profession. That
is professionalism. Outside my acts, I think am tactical. I am a normal
human being in all ramifications of life. Ironically, people
mis-interpret my anger sometimes. When I try to express annoyance about
an issue, they think am making fun. They will be laughing. Nonsense.

The truth of the matter is that your every action provokes laughter. How do you explain that?

That is the natural in what I do. I have been stereotyped into comedy. I don’t see it as a problem.

Stumbling, yes. I like that word stumbling. I did. I appreciate
people who act on television and based on that, I normally go out to
watch them shoot. I do not feel the effect of the weather because I
enjoy it so much. I was watching some actors one day in Benin and there
was scarcity of manpower. I was told to stand in place as a farmer.
Although my face did not come out, I appreciated it so much. That was my
ignition. I picked up the spirit from there in 1978.Did you stumble into professional acting?

What was growing up like?

My growing up was so rough. I remember. I lost my father in the
process. I remember that we became poorer at that point. I also remember
that after his death, hurricane removed our roof one night and the rain
beat us, eight of us and my mother till morning. My mother was busy
trying to use her wrappers to cover us, huddled there in the rain. I
will never forget that incident until the end of the world. We became
tenants in our own village, among our kindred. The absence of my father
in the whole system contributed immensely to the mess-up that devastated
us back then. I remember that I used one school uniform all through
elementary school because it was so hectic for my mother to carry our
burden. I also remember that there were so many of our relatives who
refused to assist us. Openly, verbally, they declared there disdain for
us. I also remember that during that time, no other person came into our
lives to assist in our training up. We did petty things to keep us
going. I also remember that no one among our kindred ever came up with
any money whatsoever to say “John or anybody else in my family, go and
start a trade”. I also remember that when I came into Lagos in the name
of movie production, I stayed in Ajao Estate, from where I regularly
trekked to Surulere. I also remember trekking once to Iyanoba, Iba town.
I also remember that once, for our days running, I didn’t eat anything,
just water in Lagos. I remember that the very moment I needed my friend
to assist me with shelter, he ejected me. He ejected me on 18thDecember
1997. I also remember that I was walking along the street searching for
a good place under a car or bridge where I will be sleeping till I get a
place. I met a girl called Sandra who requested I walk her to a place. I
met a friend of mine there who had initially told me to come to Lagos
stay in his place. I had looked for him before but he had gone to
Germany. But that day, I met him because he had returned the previous
night. When I met him, my property was still lying outside. I remember
what he said to me, “Anywhere you are living in this Lagos, you move
your things into my house today”. That is another miracle. He brought
out his car, a Honda Legend 1997 model. On the way, I lied to him I was
to travel so he won’t know I was ejected. He said am not traveling and
we went and moved my things to his house. He gave me a room and I went
into the toilet and shed tears. I remember he set up a football team to
contest for Nnewi end of year football championships. He handed the team
overtop me as technical adviser and chief coach. I assembled the boys,
put them into the pitch, traveled with them to Nnewi in time and we
lifted the cup. I remember we lifted that cup 1997, 98. The dimension
changed immediately after he went back to Germany. His younger brother
was no longer happy with me. He stopped me from using anything in the
house and from eating in the house. But I do not have to blame him. I
was patient enough to make all sacrifices in this industry I order to
lay a formidable foundation for those coming up to begin functioning in
the industry.

When I left their house, I opened a place in Agboyin, that hotel
called Ecowas Hotel- I single-handedly powered the awareness of the
place to artistes and they diverted from Winnies Hotel to Ecowas. I
remember I was paying N100 unlike the normal room fee of N500 and N800.
They were taking that because they didn’t want it to look like I was
staying there for free. Water and electricity was always available but
the only problem is that the hotel is not the best place to live.

From that moment, God answered my prayers. I did a couple of movies
which were hot in the market- Agony, Jealousy, Uncle Wayward- they
cliqued into the market. They gradually began to ask for my services in
the system. Whenever am acting, I put in everything. Finally, I did some
stuff, Bora.As the producer, I gained not a kobo but it bought me into
awareness. I really enjoyed the company of those I worked with on that
set. They all became my friends. As I was finishing that work, another
one came and people began to rely on me to get work. Sometimes, I helped
but sometimes I told them it was not easy. I was actually like a father
to so many of them who relied on me, like Jim Iyke. I took so many from
Lagos to Jos. I know that I contributed over 70% to his presence in the
industry. Then for Genevieve Nnaji, I contributed 80 to 90 % to her
presence in the industry. Georginia Onuoha, I contributed positively
about 75% to her being inthe industry. Muona Obiekwe, I contributed 90
to 95% to his presence in the industry. These are just a few. Why I brag
about it is that, if I had treated them badly, it would have
boomeranged on me by now. But I try to do what is right. I increased my
ideas of creativity in the area of football. I became a players’ agent
and was taking them across the country. I coach and take people across
to play abroad. Then somebody discouraged me. I took a player out after
signing an agreement with him. After he got hired, he refused to pay me.
But the funny part of it was that I had not desired to take that money
from him. I did not do anything and he played very well that year. One
time he sneaked into the country and went to train somewhere. During
that training, he broke his leg into two. Well, I did not deserve that
kind of treatment and I feel he was getting his reward. I never cursed
him but when I get angry, it extends to so many areas. In my house, the
moment my mother notices am angry, she does all in her power to placate
me because something usually goes wrong if it persists. I try to avoid
getting angry against anybody.

You mentioned doing odd jobs. Can you tell us some of these odd jobs you did?

I was a hairdresser, a stylist. I was very good at it and I did
perfectly well. I did it so well that my customers relied so much on me.
Whenever they came around and I am not there, they will wait. I had
also worked in a crate industry. I assembled crates in those days when
crates were made with wood. I also did photography. I went to
inter-house sports, convocations, parties. I was always going to cover
occasions at schools. I was once a butcher too. All these added up to my
training.

Why did you keep moving from one trade to another?

I did not rally leave any. I allotted time to them. I went for the
crates in the mornings of Tuesdays and Thursdays, and went to the
saloon in the evenings. Then weekends, I went to the saloon too. I also
did photography at weekends. I segmented my time so there were no
clashes.

What about your education?

It was really hectic. Whatever I was toiling for was mainly for my
education, my mother and younger ones. My elementary school- I did not
attend primary school, then it was elementary- ended in 1974. The
headmaster then died in early 1975 to motor accident.

That means you were in school during the Biafran war?

Yes. I started school 7th January 1966 and the announcement of war
came on 15thJanuary. My school was Community Central School Isiokwe
Amuri. We were in school then until My 11 1966. We were at the assembly-
Mr Ngene was my headmaster and he said that if the distant explosions
that kept coming does not stop in the next one week, then we would stop
coming to school. We said okay but so many children were happy. That day
we all left and never returned the next day. Shortly, the war came. The
first attack came and stopped and we were called back to school. We
stayed about two weeks or thereabouts then the main war came and
everybody absconded. We came back 1970. I was supposed to start from two
then but I don’t know what happened as I got registered as a primary
three boy. I left school in 74. I remembered that in 1973, naira and
kobo were introduced. Primary four, five and six took one test in which
those who passed were to get the calendar and pamphlets with the new
currency. First to tenth would pass while the rest would fail. In my
class five, I took third and in the whole overall exam I took sixth and I
was honoured along with the other nine in front of the whole school. My
father was very happy and he said that the honor brought to the family
would be a standing legacy. And then he died in 1976.After that, it was a
big problem. Five of my kindred died alongside my father the same year.

What happened?

Poison. One-person was busy killing them. My father revealed the killer after he died…

What was your war experience during the Biafran era?

I was seeing it as fun, running in the bush. There was no hunger
because my father was actually there for everybody. Even my village
people, most of them ran to my house and my father found good places
where to hide them in the bush. We were providing food for them and I
remember that we were eating all kinds of meat – lizard, crocodile,
chicken was an essential commodity. We had plenty of chickens then and
once in a long while, we would kill one and everybody would share.

That means you never had the misfortune of being forced to flee?

No, no, no. We had enough bushes in our place which we have been
sharing with snakes, bush dogs and lizards (laughs).Even some snakes
sympathized with us. Sometimes snakes will just come into the room where
we are sleeping and lie down. Only God knows whether that snake was
once a human being to turned to snake. Then there were some strange
dogs, they probably were semi-human beings. You cannot tell. I
sympathized with them too (by now, he and the reporter are laughing
their heads off while he continues). Strange animals, my mind was
telling meback then that they were all humans and something forced them
into animal forms. There were so many of them coming around then, you
know. All that period, nobody ever complained of a snake-bite or
anything like that. We finally discovered we could eat them and that was
when they began to hide. They even hide pass oke(rat). We ate a lot of
oke o, ebe odudu ya anunwa, o na ato ka eke ogwugwu (the tail area is
very tasty). We hunt ngwere (lizards), we hunt ngwere to every point,
gbuo ya, bunata ya (we kill it and take it home). If youopen our bags
they are full of ngweres. You will hear all those elderly people
commending us very genuinely.

So how did you prepare the ngwere for eating?

Funny enough, up till this moment I don’t know how to cook. There
was one of my brothers then who was an expert in preparing it. He is
late now. He uses scent-leaves and plenty of pepper. We avoid the head,
whether red or brown. People usually say that if you prepare the lizard
along with the head, when you open the pot, it will be full of snakes.
(We are still laughing)

So you never tried it?

I dey crase?

You believed it?

Ah, ngwere has a lot of meanings. Even snakes. As dangerous as
snakes are, we nearly began to understand their language. Okwa, this
bush okuko (goose) will come out and be asking us for help. Nobody hears
the language, but you could see that they need your help. The war
affected everyone. The very animals knew there was no chance for
anybody.

Do you remember losing any close relative to the war?

I did not really see the war as anything then. I saw it as fun. I
know somebody died but it was not because of bullets. The only son of my
grandfather died during the war. The man that killed him is dead now.
He killed him through diabolical means because of land.

People refer to you as Mr Ibu, a stage name. How do you feel bearing the name you earned from the stage?

Ibu is not a stage name. It has been my name from childhood. I bear
all my grandfather’s names. I had that name long before the script for
Mr Ibu was written. Because they wanted me to play the role, they
decided to use my real name, Mr Ibu.

So it was maybe his (grandfather’s) surname?

No. It was one of his aliases. They called him so many good names-
Hinhinhin, a proverb meaning that you can only grumble behind a great
man; Agbata-nkpu-onwu-asaa-aka-na-abo, means that no matter the alarm at
the deathof a loved one, you can’t really do anything about it;
Ogodo-dibia-karu-onye-ajo-chi-egochie-ya, meaning that when a sorcerers
clothesgrow old, an unfortunate man buys him a new one;
Ekee-nwanyi-ibuo-ewerum-ngbada, meaning that if you cut a female into
two halves, I will chose the lower half. What am I going to do with the
upper half than press and press? One outgrows that. You take the main
thing from the lower half. My grandfather allows life to flow even when
things are tough with his jokes. No matter how much he makes the joke,
you will never see laughter on his face. His was a more professional
thing than what I am doing.

What do you do apart from acting?

Singing. I have my first and second LPs, This Girl 1 and 2 in the
market. The third is coming. When am not acting I stay with my family, I
play with my friends or I go and play draughts. I like laughing.

What are your expectations for the future of Nollywood?

I am not a soothsayer. God in heaven knows what is the future. But I
know that all things are possible, with Him. We need a better
government, production houses. Nollywood as I talk to you now is hot all
over the world. The film production is an alien to us but we will get
there. We are far off from others but we will get there. I just shot a
movie in Berlin where I was supposed to act with Jackie Chan. But he
monitored the stunts which we did, from which I sustained injuries. I
did it and I failed. As I talk to you now, I still feel the pains.
Jackie Chan? He is an animal, a monkey. That guy is a jumper. His hands
and legs gum to the walls as if he is a spider.

Was he in the movie?

He was supposed to play the part I played but he came late. He came with a karate team and taught us stunt tricks.

So it is an international movie?

It is. It is a movie that has to do with the best comedy actors
from each continent. Only Iwas picked from Africa. They picked Jackie
Chan from Asia. There is also the Nigerian part and Mama Gee is
involved.

When are we expecting the movie in the market?

It is for the big screen, the cinema and that is all. It was not meant for the market.

Fan Accuses Omotola Jolade Of Refusing To Marry Her Dad

No secret is secret; this expression will sure make an impression in the lives of those who do good and bad as well.

One of the fans and followers of the pretty Nollywood star, Omotola
Jolade-Ekeinde has just accused Omosexy, as the mother of four is fondly
called, of refusing to marry her dad when he proposed to date her
during her time as at Command Secondary School, Kaduna.

Plans Underway For Medical Students To Study Herbal Medicine – Chukwu

Traditional medicine practitioners can now heave a sigh of
relief as their long drawn battle for formal recognition and acceptance
just like orthodox medicine practitioners, has yielded fruits as the
Federal Government, through the ministry of health, has begun the
process of integrating alternative medicine into medical school
curriculum.

This was disclosed last Wednesday by Minister of Health, Prof.
Onyebuchi Chukwu, who said that his ministry was in the process of
integrating traditional medicine practice into medical school
curriculum.

The health minister also announced that following the rising abuse of
codeine syrup – a remedy for cough and other nasal/bronchial
congestions, especially in the northern part of the country, the
ministry was taking drastic steps to regulate use of the drug, stressing
that it would henceforth be treated as a narcotic that should not be
sold over the counter.

Chukwu, however, premised the gobvernment’s veiled official
recognition of herbal medicine on the need for practitioners to go to
medical school to equip themselves with the requisite expert knowledge.

He also promised a level playing ground for all stakeholders in the health sector.

Why Top Boko Haram Commander Escaped – Police

Contrary
to the straight face put up by the Nigeria Police Headquarters that no
detainee by the name ‘Muhammed Sani’ was in its custody or any of its
detainees was on the run, fresh facts have emerged over the weekend that
indeed, a top Boko Haram commander by that name escaped from police
custody in November 2012.

It was confirmed at the weekend that a police document sent to the
Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) B Department by the leading
investigator of the escape, Superintendent Saidu Sani, confirmed that
Mohammed Sani, said to be connected to a number of bombings in Abuja and
Niger State, actually escaped from police custody on 10 November, 2012.

The investigation report further confirmed that the failure of some
men on duty, led to the escape of the suspect who has since disappeared
into thin air.

Commander of the Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Saidu
Sani, who reported the escape from police custody, said that his men who
were on Mohammed Sani failed to monitor the man closely.

He said having placed Mohammed under scrutiny, his men failed to
strictly follow the measures he put in place to stop the escape.

He, however, said that he needed time to look for the man and that he would re-arrest him within 14 days.

Cough Syrup With Codeine Will Soon Be Restricted To Hospitals Only – Minister

It
is not uncommon this days to see empty bottles of cough syrup with
Codeine and Benylin lying carelessly around our environments because
such syrups, which are often obtainable over the counter and are meant
for the treatment of cough, has been abused. Young persons especially
those who don’t want alcohol to be perceived in their breathe, find this
syrup a veritable alternative – it can’t be perceived in its user’s
breathe but supposedly gives the ‘highness’ associated with alcohol
consumption.

This much was attested to by Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, an Orthopaedic
Surgeon and Minister of Health in an interview culled from The PUNCH.

According to Prof. Chuwkwu, “This has been one source of abuse in the
country. A lot of our youths, and even some adults, have been abusing
it. I am told that it makes them high. That is why they are all buying
all the cough syrups with codeine.

“Before the next two weeks, you will hear a pronouncement which will
say clearly that those syrups with codeine will now be treated like
other narcotic drugs, in which case, it will only be accessed the way
narcotic drugs are accessed. This means that you can’t find them in any
ordinary shops. It will be found in hospitals only.”

Amnesty Programme To End In 2015 – Kuku

The Presidential Amnesty Programme for repentant militants in the
Niger Delta which was initiated by the late President Umar usa Yar’Adua
to restore peace in the region and guarantee uninterrupted crude oil
supply, will soon come to and end as it is set to expire in 2015.

Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta who is also
co-ordinator of the programme, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, disclosed that it
would officially terminate in 2015. He, however, disclosed that some
elements had been finding ways to abuse the programme, even when it had
since been declared close in 2009.

Kuku alleged that some members of the military Joint Task Force were
in league with some of such individuals, claiming they were militants
and were ready to surrender their arms and embrace the amnesty
programme.

But Kuku while reiterating that the amnesty programme would not run forever said, “It should end in 2015,”.

The
major gladiators in the race to 2015 – President Goodluck Jonathan and
Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have commenced subtle but heightened battle
for the control of the South-West geopolitical zone.

Although President Jonathan has on countless occassions stated that
he would make a definite comment on whether he will contest in the 2015
elections in 2014, not a few already know that he is interested in
contesting.

The duo used the recent fire disaster that affected 21 rooms in the
640-acre 200-year-old palace of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi,
to test their popularity in the South-West region.

While preisdent Jonathan not only sent a high-powered delegation, led
by the Olugbo of Ugbo Kingdom in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo
State, Oba Fredrick Akinruntan, to convey his sympathy to the Oyo
monarch over the incident, he also invited the Alaafin to the Villa for a
closed-door meeting that lasted a few hours.

The president, it was gathered, told the Alaafin to engage a
contractor and forward a quotation for the rebuilding of the palace to
him for further action.

But the ever foxy and deciphering Senator Bola Tinubu, whose party,
the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), is the largest opposition party in
the country, sensed the high-level political intrigues at play, decided
to play his own cards by leading a high-powered ACN delegation to the
Alaafin’s palace on Wednesday.

In Tinubu’s entourage were the national chairman of the ACN, Chief
Bisi Akande; its chairman in the South-West, Alhaji Tajudeen Olusi;
national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; and the governor of
Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi.

In his speech, Tinubu, who sympathised with the Alaafin over the
incident, described the paramount ruler as a honest, courageous,
constant and effective leader in Yorubaland.

Making veiled reference to President Jonathan’s meeting with the
Alaafin and the pledged assistance to rebuild the palace, Tinubu said,
“Kabiyesi, you are not a chicken that anybody can bait with grains of
corn. We in the ACN are here to tell you that we are with you.

“Kabiyesi, fire did not burn your palace; you only sent us a message
and we have got the message and interpreted the signal accordingly. You
are not known for jumping ship. You are a constant and dependable
leader,” Tinubu said.

After the visit, the Alaafin led Tinubu and his entourage round the
burnt portion of the palace with the bespectacled former governor
pledging the assistance of the ACN leaders and well-meaning Yoruba
indigenes to rebuild and modernise the palace, with a view to preserving
the culture, tradition and customs of the Yoruba people.

Revealed: Why Asari Dokubo Is Mad At Jonathan

More
light has been shed on the reasons behind a former militant lord,
Alhaji Mujahideen Dokubo-Asari’s recent outburst against the
administration of his perceived principal and President of Nigeria,
Goodluck Jonathan. Although the reasons are not coming as a surprise as
most could quickly discern, it was learnt that the former militant was
angry over the revocation of his multimillion naira contract with the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Information Nigeria recalls that Dokubo-Asari had, at a recent press
briefing, descended heavily on the Federal Government, rubbishing the
the present administration and decrying some of the government’s
policies, even though he had at some time in the past, sang high praises
of the same government.

Fresh facts, as revealed by the Special Adviser to the President on
Niger Delta, Honourable Kingsley Kuku, indicates that the former
militant leader was hard hit by the decision of the management of the
NNPC to revoke the contract it awarded to some of the former militants
for the security and protection of oil pipelines and installation in the
Niger Delta area.

According to Kuku, Dokubo-Asari was well notified of the decision to
revoke the contract and the reason behind the action. The government, he
said, wanted to ensure equity and proper protection of oil pipelines
and not just to give patronage to some individuals in the Niger Delta
because they are former militants.

Honourable Kuku, who is also the chairman, Presidential Amnesty
Programme, at a media interaction at the weekend, disclosed that the
revocation of the contract by the NNPC was not punitive, but meant
to restore sanity into the entire operations.

“It was taken to bring order to the entire programme. For instance,
Dokubo-Asari, who is my friend, was told to register his organisation
with the Corporate Affairs Commission. Upon registration of a proper
company, he would, of course, have his staff working for him. If he had
done that, he could then reapply for the same contract,” Kuku stated.

He further added that government felt the need to properly channel
security activities in the Niger Delta by ensuring that those given the
contract to secure pipelines had full control of their areas and that
they were from the particular area the pipelines passed through.

Therefore, it would be improper for Dokubo-Asari, “who is from
Kalabari, in Rivers State,” to take the contract to secure pipelines in
Bayelsa ahead of a native of Bayelsa, just as it was doubtful if Tompolo
(another notorious militant) would secure Kalabari area better than
Dokubo-Asari.

“Government felt that the security of the pipelines should be well
spread, for maximum effects and that people from a particular area
should secure the facility in their area. That way, we would have
effective protection for these facilities,” he stated, adding that
government wanted to do things the right way and not just appear to
please some individuals.

“What If another government comes tomorrow and decides to discontinue
with the arrangement? I believe the decision was taken to even protect
the interest of the like of my brother, Dokubo-Asari,” Kuku said.

Lone Driver Of Bus That Plunged Into Lagoon Identified

Yesterday, a Toyota Sienna bus, skidded off the Third Mainland Bridge
and plunged into the lagoon. The incident which happened around 11
a.m., shortly after the monthly environmental exercise, sent jitters
down the spine of many as reports claimed that the bus was fully loaded
with passengers, a claim that is yet to be ascertained as at the time of
filing in this report.

However, a lone victim identified as Shola Oladimeji, was rescued by
local divers and rushed to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital
(LASUTH), Ikeja by men of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).

Politics changed my dress sense – Jimi Agbaje

Jimi Agbaje has a courteous facade and gentle mien that questions his
decision to embrace politics. Just as you ponder on this, he interrupts
your thought: “People generally play politics for self or service. For
me, it is service primarily and the belief that you can make change
possible; that you can make your community a better place; that there
are opportunities out there that people can leverage on and be better
citizens. It is the belief that you can develop your environment.”

A 1978 graduate of pharmacy from the University of Ife (now Obafemi
Awolowo University), he is quick to say he was not bored practising as a
pharmacist for over three decades.

He doesn’t mince words on his choice of career. “I am still a
pharmacist and I remain first a pharmacist before any other thing. I
started my pharmacy on the shopping floor, which is about the community-
people, customers, and patients. Therefore, you find that you are
dealing with your environment. So, going into politics is just an
extension.

“By the time you succeed in community practice, it means you have
become beacon of hope in the community. People come to you for
everything. As a pharmacist, apart from being in the community, I was
involved with my professional body, the Pharmaceutical Society of
Nigeria, and others,” he says.

So at what point did politics crop up?

The former Lagos State governorship candidate, who contested on the
ticket of the Democratic People’s Alliance, reminisces: “It had to do
with the Abiola/Tofa election. I saw the annulment as a personal insult
and an assault on my person. It came at a time others felt the same way.
We had the concerned professionals and my first entry into what I would
call activism, was through the concerned professionals. I was in one
form of resistance group or the other and I did not realise I was
getting deeper and deeper into politics. I went on to the
socio-political organisation, Afenifere, but it was not with a mind that I was going to run for elective post.

“Again, during Tinubu’s second term, we sat down to deliberate on who
will take over from him. Names were bandied and it got to a stage that
we felt this was not our dream. These people were not going to deliver
the way we wanted them to. Somewhere along the line, someone threw the
searchlight on me. I think that was how the lot fell on me.”

And his family? What was their reaction? He smiles and recalls: “Due to my activities with Afenifere,
it was not totally strange to my family. We had to discuss it.
Fortunately, my children were young adults and it was easier for my wife
and I to explain to them. Maybe if resistance came, it was from one or
two of my siblings. My mother was scared of politics. But because you
have seen politics from the engine room and you know the risks which is
also in every profession, what matters is that you do that job properly
and leave the rest to God. To me, they were calculated risks.”

Agbaje had to make some behavioural adjustments to fit into his new
role since politics is not for reserved people. “If you want to play
politics, you must be ready to mix. You have to be a lot more patient
and be more of a listener,” he adds.

Did he feel bad losing out in the governorship election of 2007?
Agbaje answers that he was not bitter but that those around him found it
difficult to overcome the loss. He is a staunch believer that the best
team does not win sometimes.

“I had learnt in school that you may have the best team but it does
not guarantee you victory. during the election, we enjoyed ourselves
thoroughly but it is like every game – you either win or lose. You can
lose because you actually lost and you can lose because you were
actually cheated,” he states.

Now, does he still nurse the ambition of becoming the governor of Lagos State?

This elicits another round of laughter.

He says, “that is a very difficult question for a politician to
answer. Let me just say that I have remained in politics although I do
not belong to any political party. If you want to remain in politics,
the constitution recommends that you should belong to one party or the
other. To that extent, I am beginning to look at what party I want to
join. Time will tell.”

Agbaje believes that he has not achieved much as a politician.

According to him, one should go into politics to make a difference
which he has not been able to do. He considers himself more accomplished
as a pharmacist than as a politician.

He proudly launches into the history of his successful practice as a pharmacist.

“Jaykay Pharmacy was born in 1982 and I was a relatively young
pharmacist. I worked in an outlet for a nice boss of mine and when it
was time, I decided to set up my own pharmacy. My dream then was along
the line of a company in England called, Boots. They have a
manufacturing concern and a retail outlet chain. I cannot say that I
have achieved the dream because over the last six years, I can say I
have been distracted and therefore the expansion has not gone on, as I
would have loved. We have people who run the business; so I have been
able to step back a bit. In 2005, when I started politics, I left as
managing director and became the chairman of the company,” he says.

Married for 31 years and still counting, he talks enthusiastically
about his wife who he met at the University of Ife. They dated for eight
years before they got married. “We were young when we got married
because there was really nothing to wait for after graduation. The union
has produced two gentlemen and a lady,” he states.

Politicians are considered to be very social but Agbaje says he is ‘a
bit social.’ “I like a good intelligent discussion. You find that I am
happy in a good environment. I like a weekend that is free and I do not
have to be anywhere. I like to watch TV and I am a news freak. When I
have time, I like to read and I love my sleep,” he adds.

Born and bred in Lagos, he fondly relives his childhood days: “I
think the only time I left Lagos was to go to University of Ife. I was
born into a Christian home and I’m the second surviving child. My father
was a career banker and he taught us to work hard like himself. He did
not spare the rod; so we were not spoilt. If you were rascally, you paid
the price. My mother was teacher.”

Now, one topic he shies away from is fashion, which he admits, is not his forte.

“You are talking to the wrong person because unbelievably, my wife
dresses me up. Whatever you see on me, just give the credit to my wife.
Can you believe that I don t even know my tailor but I get clothes sewn
for me? I just like to dress comfortably, simple and clean. Of course, I
changed my dressing from the moment I got into politics. If you met me
before I went into politics, I was dressed in good shirts and trousers.
Then, my friends advised that if I was running for governor, nobody
would take me serious unless I looked gubernatorial; which meant wearing
agbada but I did not see myself wearing that. We settled for buba and sokoto but if I do have a proper event, I wear agbada.”

Sad Memories: I still miss my late wife — Anslem Madubuko

Apostle Anslem Madubuko is the General Overseer of the Revival
Assembly. In this interview, the 54-year-old widower from Ihiala Local
Government area of Anambra State speaks on his late wife and other
sundry issues

Were there inklings while growing up that pointed to the fact that you will end up a pastor?

Yes, I remember my mother once told me that she had three children
before me and all of them died. While pregnant with me, she
unconsciously made a vow to God to return me to Him if I didn’t die. I
was named Chukwudi. We were Catholics and I was a mass server. During
the war, I stayed with the village parish priest but I didn’t have a
personal encounter with Christ. When I was to go to the university, my
parents advised against joining any cult. But I did. At the University
of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu campus, I went in search of the pirates’
confraternity. I went through the grueling interviews and eventually
became a member. In my last year in school, I became the capone of the
secret cult. I was also a club DJ; I used to work with Radio Nigeria,
presenting musical programmes. I got into the university at 17. By 18, I
was already the director of socials. I beat an older opponent to clinch
that position. God showed me life too early; I was exposed to booze,
women, drugs etc. I was a rich student with a car on campus. In my fifth
year, I found out that a Christian fellow would be my roommate and I
simply stayed off campus the entire year! That was how rebellious I was
to the things of God. But by my youth service year, I was already
getting tired of all the vices I was involved in and I didn’t know what
to do. A young man, who worked at Tom Ikimi and Associates, an
architectural firm, where I also worked after my youth service, spoke to
me about Jesus. No one had ever spoken to me about Christ because I
didn’t give anyone a chance. Eventually, I gave my life to Christ.

As a pastor, are there peculiar challenges in running the ministry?

I haven’t encountered anything that I couldn’t deal with or which
gave me sleepless nights. I didn’t beg for this job, in fact, I never
prayed to be a pastor. Yes, I love the Lord but my plan was to be an
evangelist- keep my business running and do crusades. My late wife,
Connie, wasn’t a people person; she was an introvert and it didn’t look
like it was going to work. But God assured me that He was going to take
care of everything and He has been faithful. I have had problems, no
doubt; betrayals and all sorts but not one was strong enough to make me
think it was the end.

How did your parents feel when you eventually toed the pastoral line?

They felt quite disappointed that I ended up carrying the Bible
around instead of pursuing the bright future that was ahead of me. My
father was a very strong Catholic and he disowned me. He wrote me a
letter saying he has only one son as against the two he has. My sisters,
whom I tried to convert, were afraid because of my father’s wrath. But I
wasn’t moved because I figured that if I was doing what was right, time
would tell. Eventually, they understood me and got to know the Lord
better.

What fond childhood memories can you recall?

I had a most memorable childhood. I grew up in GRA, Enugu in those
days. My father was the registrar of the College of Technology before
the war. My mother used to work with the Agricultural Development
Authority. They made sure they gave their children the best. They made
sure we didn’t lack. Life was good at that time.

As a very stylish pastor, what does style mean to you?

Well, I am an architect, so it is inevitable. I have no particular definition of style.

So what determines what you wear?

I do not plan what I wear until I am just about to dress up. But I am
most comfortable wearing Kaftan even outside the country. Suits make me
look too official and I found out that most times, people are more
interested in me more than what I am saying. They want to know the brand
of suit I am wearing. But with Kaftans, no one really cares.

Outside of the church, what would you say has been your greatest regrets?

Not having time with my three children as they grew. I was gone most
of the time. It is only now that I am getting to know them; if I had my
way, I would have turned that around but I thank God that they turned
out well.

How soon do you plan to experience marital bliss now that your wife is late?

I can’t tell but of course, one of these days. I don’t want to say
too much about my eventual marital status because a lot has already been
said.

How have you been able to cope with widowhood?

Well, God has been faithful. I am immersed in my job and the good
thing is that I am usually very tired by the time I get home. I do miss
her though.

How do you unwind when you aren’t shepherding your flock?

I like to just stay indoors. I am either at home or ministering
somewhere. When I’m at home, I like to watch football, surf the
Internet, etc.

You said you studied architecture; why the preference for the course?

I found out that I liked technical drawing and designing since I was
in high school. It was only natural that I followed that path. Besides, I
was also good at drawing. I like to build. I didn’t have a second
choice and I’m glad I studied it. Initially, I tried running the
business alongside the ministry but I realised they were both too
rigorous to handle at the same time. I miss designing but I still do
some designs for close friends.

Politics changed my dress sense – Jimi Agbaje

Jimi Agbaje has a courteous facade and gentle mien that questions his
decision to embrace politics. Just as you ponder on this, he interrupts
your thought: “People generally play politics for self or service. For
me, it is service primarily and the belief that you can make change
possible; that you can make your community a better place; that there
are opportunities out there that people can leverage on and be better
citizens. It is the belief that you can develop your environment.”

A 1978 graduate of pharmacy from the University of Ife (now Obafemi
Awolowo University), he is quick to say he was not bored practising as a
pharmacist for over three decades.

He doesn’t mince words on his choice of career. “I am still a
pharmacist and I remain first a pharmacist before any other thing. I
started my pharmacy on the shopping floor, which is about the community-
people, customers, and patients. Therefore, you find that you are
dealing with your environment. So, going into politics is just an
extension.

“By the time you succeed in community practice, it means you have
become beacon of hope in the community. People come to you for
everything. As a pharmacist, apart from being in the community, I was
involved with my professional body, the Pharmaceutical Society of
Nigeria, and others,” he says.

So at what point did politics crop up?

The former Lagos State governorship candidate, who contested on the
ticket of the Democratic People’s Alliance, reminisces: “It had to do
with the Abiola/Tofa election. I saw the annulment as a personal insult
and an assault on my person. It came at a time others felt the same way.
We had the concerned professionals and my first entry into what I would
call activism, was through the concerned professionals. I was in one
form of resistance group or the other and I did not realise I was
getting deeper and deeper into politics. I went on to the
socio-political organisation, Afenifere, but it was not with a mind that I was going to run for elective post.

“Again, during Tinubu’s second term, we sat down to deliberate on who
will take over from him. Names were bandied and it got to a stage that
we felt this was not our dream. These people were not going to deliver
the way we wanted them to. Somewhere along the line, someone threw the
searchlight on me. I think that was how the lot fell on me.”

And his family? What was their reaction? He smiles and recalls: “Due to my activities with Afenifere,
it was not totally strange to my family. We had to discuss it.
Fortunately, my children were young adults and it was easier for my wife
and I to explain to them. Maybe if resistance came, it was from one or
two of my siblings. My mother was scared of politics. But because you
have seen politics from the engine room and you know the risks which is
also in every profession, what matters is that you do that job properly
and leave the rest to God. To me, they were calculated risks.”

Agbaje had to make some behavioural adjustments to fit into his new
role since politics is not for reserved people. “If you want to play
politics, you must be ready to mix. You have to be a lot more patient
and be more of a listener,” he adds.

Did he feel bad losing out in the governorship election of 2007?
Agbaje answers that he was not bitter but that those around him found it
difficult to overcome the loss. He is a staunch believer that the best
team does not win sometimes.

“I had learnt in school that you may have the best team but it does
not guarantee you victory. during the election, we enjoyed ourselves
thoroughly but it is like every game – you either win or lose. You can
lose because you actually lost and you can lose because you were
actually cheated,” he states.

Now, does he still nurse the ambition of becoming the governor of Lagos State?

This elicits another round of laughter.

He says, “that is a very difficult question for a politician to
answer. Let me just say that I have remained in politics although I do
not belong to any political party. If you want to remain in politics,
the constitution recommends that you should belong to one party or the
other. To that extent, I am beginning to look at what party I want to
join. Time will tell.”

Agbaje believes that he has not achieved much as a politician.

According to him, one should go into politics to make a difference
which he has not been able to do. He considers himself more accomplished
as a pharmacist than as a politician.

He proudly launches into the history of his successful practice as a pharmacist.

“Jaykay Pharmacy was born in 1982 and I was a relatively young
pharmacist. I worked in an outlet for a nice boss of mine and when it
was time, I decided to set up my own pharmacy. My dream then was along
the line of a company in England called, Boots. They have a
manufacturing concern and a retail outlet chain. I cannot say that I
have achieved the dream because over the last six years, I can say I
have been distracted and therefore the expansion has not gone on, as I
would have loved. We have people who run the business; so I have been
able to step back a bit. In 2005, when I started politics, I left as
managing director and became the chairman of the company,” he says.

Married for 31 years and still counting, he talks enthusiastically
about his wife who he met at the University of Ife. They dated for eight
years before they got married. “We were young when we got married
because there was really nothing to wait for after graduation. The union
has produced two gentlemen and a lady,” he states.

Politicians are considered to be very social but Agbaje says he is ‘a
bit social.’ “I like a good intelligent discussion. You find that I am
happy in a good environment. I like a weekend that is free and I do not
have to be anywhere. I like to watch TV and I am a news freak. When I
have time, I like to read and I love my sleep,” he adds.

Born and bred in Lagos, he fondly relives his childhood days: “I
think the only time I left Lagos was to go to University of Ife. I was
born into a Christian home and I’m the second surviving child. My father
was a career banker and he taught us to work hard like himself. He did
not spare the rod; so we were not spoilt. If you were rascally, you paid
the price. My mother was teacher.”

Now, one topic he shies away from is fashion, which he admits, is not his forte.

“You are talking to the wrong person because unbelievably, my wife
dresses me up. Whatever you see on me, just give the credit to my wife.
Can you believe that I don t even know my tailor but I get clothes sewn
for me? I just like to dress comfortably, simple and clean. Of course, I
changed my dressing from the moment I got into politics. If you met me
before I went into politics, I was dressed in good shirts and trousers.
Then, my friends advised that if I was running for governor, nobody
would take me serious unless I looked gubernatorial; which meant wearing
agbada but I did not see myself wearing that. We settled for buba and sokoto but if I do have a proper event, I wear agbada.”

Egyptian Referee Grisha Ghead to be Expelled from Afcon

The
official has come under intense scrutiny for his penalty call against
Nigeria in Friday’s game against Zambia which ended in a draw.
Egyptian referee Grisha Ghead, who officiated the controversial
second Group C match between defending champions Zambia and Nigeria on
Friday, may be dismissed from the Africa Nations Cup by the
Confederation of Africa Football (Caf) as a result of poor officiating,
Goal.com has learnt.
Ghead gave Zambia a controversial penalty late in the game which
ensured that the match ended 1-1. The Nigeria Football Federation lodged
a complaint with Caf after the match.
Goal.com learnt that Caf president Issa Hayatou assured Nigeria’s
minister of sport Bolaji Abdullahi that prompt action has been taken
against the referee and that the official will be sent home. Caf is yet
to react officially.
The last Group C matches are now expected to generate great concern
to Caf as they have prepared to monitor the two matches alongside the
other groups to forestall a repeat of such scandalous mistakes and
biases as alleged by the NFF.

President Goodluck Jonathan’s Grammatical Boo-Boos

For those who don’t know, “boo-boo” is an informal American-English
term for “an embarrassing mistake.” Every Nigerian knows that good
grammar isn’t President Goodluck Jonathan’s strong suit. I was probably
the first to publicly call attention to this fact in my April 16, 2010
article about then Acting President Jonathan’s visit to the US.

In the article, titled “Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, that was
embarrassing,” I observed, among other things, that during the Q and A
session at the Council on Foreign Relations Jonathan “couldn’t
articulate a coherent thought, hardly made a complete sentence, went off
on inconsequential and puerile tangents, murdered basic grammar with
reckless abandon, repeated trifles ad nauseam, was embarrassingly
stilted, and generally looked and talked like a timid high school
student struggling to remember his memorized lines in a school debate.” I
concluded that he was “unfathomably clueless” and not “emotionally and
socially prepared for the job of a president—yet.”

Almost three years after, the president hasn’t changed a bit.

But his January 23, 2013 interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour
will probably go down in the annals as his worst international outing as
a president, particularly because of the insensate ferocity with which
he murdered elementary rules of English grammar.

This isn’t an attempt to ridicule the president’s deficiencies in
English. Nor is it an analysis of his interview. Since I write about
grammar, I thought it was appropriate that I use the president’s CNN
interview, which millions of Nigerians watched, as a teaching moment.
This is precisely because the usage patterns of the elite of any
country, especially of the president who is the most important political
and cultural figure in a country, tend to get naturalized and imitated
by the general population over time.

I have listed below some of the rankest grammatical bloopers that the
president committed during the CNN interview.I have left out clumsy,
semantically puzzling constructions that, in my judgment, were the
consequence of the familiar, excusable pressures of impromptu dialogic
exchange.

1. “Thank you.” Christiane Amanpour started the interview by saying
“Goodluck Jonathan, thank you very much for joining me from Davos.” The
president’s response to this courteous expression of gratitude was
“thank you.” Again, at the end of the interview when Amanpour said,
“President Goodluck Jonathan, thank you for joining me,” the president
responded by saying “thank you.”

That is not the conventional response to an expression of gratitude
in the English language. When someone says “thank you” to you,
conversational courtesy in English requires you to respond with such
fixed phrases as “you’re welcome,” “(it’s) my pleasure,” etc. Other less
familiar responses are “think nothing of it” and “don’t mention it”
(which is chiefly British, although it’s now going out of circulation in
contemporary British English.) In very casual contexts, it’s usual for
people to say “(it’s) not a problem,” “sure,” “you bet,” “not at all,”
“any time,” etc.

It is neither conventional nor idiomatic to say “thank you” to a “thank you.”

2. “Committed to work with…” In response to a question about the
insurgency in Mali, President Jonathan said, “And that is why the
Nigerian government is totally committed to work with other nationals,
other friendly governments to make sure that we contain the problems in
Mali.” In grammar, the verb that comes after “committed to” is always in
the progressive tense, that is, it always takes an “ing” form. So the
president should properly say “we are totally committed to working
with…”

3. Subject-verb agreement. This rule states that a singular subject
agrees with a singular verb (that is, a verb with an “s” at the end) and
a plural subject agrees with a plural verb (that is, a verb without an
“s” at the end). It is obvious that the president has a continuing
challenge with subject-verb agreement. This comes out clearly in all his
media interviews and extempore speeches. For instance, in response to a
journalist’s question about the Libyan crisis during a “State of the
Nation” media chat in 2011, the president famously said, “Libyan crisis
is like a pot of water dropped and everything scatter.”

Of course, it should properly be “everything scatters” since
“everything” is a singular subject that always agrees with a singular
verb. Perhaps, the president was interlarding his speech with Nigerian
Pidgin English (where the phrase “everything scatter scatter”
popularized by Nigerian pop-singer Eedris Abdulkareem is standard and
means “everything is upside down”).

But during the Amanpour interview, in response to another question on
Libya, the president again said, “the issue of Libya try to create more
problems in the sub region.” Well, it should be “the issue of Libya
tries to create…” because “the issue,” which modifies the verb in the
sentence, is a singular subject. The president clearly has not the
vaguest idea what subject-verb agreement means.

4. “Ghaddafi was thrown.” Who threw Ghaddafi? From where was he
thrown? The president probably meant to say “Ghaddafi was overthrown.”

5. “Weapons enter into hands of non-state actors.” This is
undoubtedly Nigerian Pidgin English where “enter” functions as a
catch-all verb for a whole host of things such as “enter a bike” (for
“ride a bike”), “enter ya shoes” (for “wear your shoes”), etc. The
president meant to say “weapons got into the hands of non-state actors.”

6. “And I have said it severally…” Here, the president fell into a
popular Nigerian English error: the misuse of “severally” to mean
“several times.” This is what I wrote in a previous article titled
“Adverbial and Adjectival Abuse in Nigerian English”: “Perhaps the
trickiest of the adverbs we misuse is the word ‘severally.’ We often use
the word as if it meant ‘several times.’ It is typical for Nigerians to
say ‘I have told you severally that I don’t like that!’ or ‘I have been
severally arrested by the police.’ In Standard English, however,
‘severally’ does not mean ‘several times’; it only means individually,
singly, independently, without others, etc., as in ‘the clothes were
hung severally.’ This means the clothes are apart from each other and
don’t touch each other. Strikingly odd, not so?”

7. “They should try and filter the truth.” This is the full context
of this odd sentence: Amanpour told President Jonathan that the US State
Department has said that police brutality has killed more Nigerians
than Boko Haram has. This outraged the president who said the following
in response: “The State Department from the United States they have,
they have the means of knowing the truth. They should try and filter the
truth.”

Now, to filter (out) is to “remove or separate (suspended particles,
wavelengths of radiation, etc.) from (a liquid, gas, radiation, etc.) by
the action of a filter.” Example: “Filter out the impurities.” By
metaphorical extension, if someone “filters the truth,” as President
Jonathan is urging the US State Department to do, they are actually
removing the truth which, in essence, means they are lying. In other
words, Jonathan is asking the US government to ignore the truth and
embrace falsehood. Of course, that is not what he meant. But that is
what he comes across as saying.

8. “…before the bulb can light.” This is a semantically and
structurally awkward construction. It’s probably the translation of the
president’s native language, which is fine. But it is confusing for
people who don’t speak his language. You can light a bulb with
something, such as a battery, but can a bulb “light”? The bulb has no
agency. Perhaps, the president meant to say “before the bulb can light
up.” “Light up” is a fixed verb phrase.

Boko Haram Relocates to North-West Nigeria

For the first time since the dreaded Boko Haram appeared
on the country’s scene, Nigerians, especially those resident in the 19
northern States and Abuja, had a bombing-free Christmas and New Year
celebrations. In fact, some Nigerians, as investigations revealed,
heaved a sigh of relief, thinking, “at last, bombings are gradually
reducing.” Little did they know that they’d heaved the sigh of relief
too soon.

Exactly 18 days after the New Year celebration, the terrorists went
for the kill, but they missed their target – the Emir Kano. Although no
group, including the new one, Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan
(meaning Vanguards for the protection of Muslims in Black Africa) has
claimed responsibility for the gun attack on the Kano monarch, the
signature of last Saturday’s attack, however, bore that of Boko Haram.
Besides, the Saturday, January 19, 2013, an attack came just a day to
the one-year anniversary of the first major attack on the ancient city
of Kano by the Boko Haram. But the Ansarul group, whose name is similar
to one of the major groups fighting in Mali, has since claimed
responsibility for the attack on the Mali-bound Nigerian soldiers in a
village near Okene in Kogi State, where two soldiers were said to have
lost their lives.
Incidentally, the attack on the Emir of Kano occurred on the same day
with the one that claimed the lives of the Mali-bound Nigerian
soldiers. Since then, series of explosives have been recovered by
security operatives in Jos, Kaduna, Gombe, Damaturu, Kaduna, Kano and
Maiduguri, with some hitting their targets. The attack on the Emir of
Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, did not just happen.
Investigations revealed that before last Saturday’s attack, there
have been pockets of killings within and around Kano by suspected
terrorists. Prominent among these is the one that occurred just two days
before the attack on the Emir, where four persons, including two
suspected terrorists died in a shoot-out with soldiers at a checkpoint
in Mariri area of the state capital. Before then, it was further
gathered, four policemen were killed in the same week by gunmen
suspected to be terrorists.

If Guns Don’t Kill People, Why Does Florida Cheat Mental Health?

Customers
in Sarasota, Florida look over the last two AR-15 style rifles for sale
inside the Bullet Hole gun shop before an expected gun control
announcement by U.S. President Barack Obama on January 16, 2013.

Maybe Florida is
hoping to deflect attention from its hopeless election system. But in
the wake of last month’s Connecticut school shooting tragedy, the
Sunshine State has gladly made itself the torch bearer of our right to
pack heat. In response to the revived gun control
debate, Florida is leading the nation in gun sales, which soared 77%
there last month. The state recently announced its millionth concealed
weapon permit as loudly and proudly as if it had just eliminated child
poverty or unemployment. Florida also wants you to know that after
reconsidering its controversial Stand Your Ground law, the Wild West gun
code at the center of the Trayvon Martin killing, it’s decided not to reconsider it. Put that in your Glock and fire it.
But what Florida is being surprisingly quiet about—make that hypocritically quiet about—is the fact that it ranks 49th
in spending on mental health services. Florida, in fact, allots just
$39 per person compared to a national average of $129. According to the
Ocala Star-Banner, adjusted for inflation that represents less
expenditure than Florida saw in the 1950s. That’s hypocrisy because
Florida is governed by leaders slavishly loyal to the National Rifle
Association (NRA)—and that lobby, especially in the wake of the
Connecticut assault rifle massacre that killed 20 young children, has
insisted at every turn that such atrocities aren’t a gun issue but a
mental health issue.
The NRA is half right, anyway. Better identification of the mentally
ill in our midst is one critical part of the problem; the other is the
absurd access the mentally ill have to semi-automatic weapons and
bottomless ammunition clips. But either way, the Florida data point up
the gun lobby’s shameful duplicity: while it lavishes millions of
dollars on politicians—$700,000 in Florida alone last year—to keep U.S.
gun laws among the world’s most lax, it rarely if ever pushes
legislators to get serious about the mental health crisis that it holds
up as a cynical means of distracting us from the gun crisis.
And Florida is hardly the lone showcase—or Lone Star, if you will.
Few states enjoy advertising themselves as the most gun-totin’ territory
in the country than Texas does, pardner, and yet it’s dead last in the
nation in mental health spending. It’s bringing up the rear in an area
that so many gun advocates tell us is the key to solving America’s gun
crisis—er, sorry, violence crisis, which is the new talking-point term
we’re supposed to use now. All of the U.S. states in the bottom 10 of
mental health spending—Texas, Idaho, Florida, Arkansas, Georgia,
Oklahoma, Kentucky, South Carolina, Louisiana, Utah, Nevada and West
Virginia—also sport the nation’s loosest gun control laws, according to
the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington, D.C. So the
states that most passionately defend the Second Amendment are the ones
that least fervently adhere to their own precept that guns don’t kill
people, people do.
If they really believed in that argument, would their Governors be
vetoing even modest mental health spending increases, as Florida’s Rick
Scott did last year? It’s true that the Great Recession has forced even
progressive states, like Connecticut, to cut back on services like
mental health care. But if you go out of your way, as Florida has, to
make the right to bear arms more absolute than the right to own a
dog—given my own family’s experience with a Schnauzer rescue agency,
I’ll bet Scott faced more red tape adopting the Labrador he recently had
to give away than he would if he were buying a Luger—people also have a
right to criticize the fact that per capita you spend less than
kenneling a dog would cost when it comes to recognizing and treating
deranged people who might pull triggers.
The hypocrisy doesn’t stop there, however. Like most Americans, I
support the right to own a shotgun for hunting or a handgun to protect
your family. I also support commonsense gun regulations—just as I
support free speech but also curbs on libel and slander. Which brings us
to the First Amendment and the attempt by Scott and his fellow
conservatives in Tallahassee to make it a crime for pediatricians to ask
their patients if they have guns in their homes—even though 1 in every
25 pediatric trauma cases involves gunshot wounds. (A federal judge
blocked the law last year.) Adam Putnam, who heads Florida’s Department
of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which oversees concealed weapons
permits, crowed that the millionth license proved how “strenuously our
state supports the Second Amendment.” But where were pols like him when
Scott so strenuously tried to trash the First Amendment rights of
doctors?
When Florida’s next legislative session begins in March, a few
lawmakers will introduce measures to either repeal or water down Stand
Your Ground—the much abused 2005 law that lets anyone, anywhere use
deadly force against another person if they feel their life is in
danger. It will probably be a futile effort. And efforts to pass
improved mental health services legislation may fail too. That’s a
shame, because it would help lessen the risk of gun violence. After all,
it’s people who kill people.

Court says Obama exceeded authority in making appointments

Video:
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney discussed Friday’s ruling that
President Obama violated the constitution when he bypassed the Senate
last year to fill vacancies on a labor relations panel. Carney says the
White House “strongly disagrees” with the decision.

President Obama exceeded his
constitutional authority by making appointments when the Senate was on a
break last year, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The court’s
broad ruling would sharply limit the power that presidents throughout
history have used to make recess appointments in the face of Senate
opposition and inaction.
A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia Circuit flatly rejected the Obama
administration’s rationale for appointing three members of the National
Labor Relations Board (NLRB) while the Senate was on a holiday break.

Chief Judge David B. Sentelle sharply criticized the
administration’s interpretation of when recess appointments may be made,
saying it would give the president “free rein to appoint his desired
nominees at any time he pleases, whether that time be a weekend, lunch,
or even when the Senate is in session and he is merely displeased with
its inaction.” He added, “This cannot be the law.”
The issue seems
certain to end up before the Supreme Court, which ultimately could
clarify a president’s authority to fill his administration and appoint
federal judges when a minority of the Senate blocks consideration of his
choices.
Although recess appointments have been made throughout
the nation’s history, they have been more commonly made by modern
presidents who face partisan opposition that has made it hard for
nominees to even receive a vote in the Senate.
Additionally,
Friday’s decision casts doubt on hundreds of decisions the NLRB has made
in the past year, ranging from enforcement of collective-bargaining
agreements to rulings on the rights of workers to use social media.
The
ruling also raises questions about the recess appointment of former
Ohio attorney general Richard Cordray to head the fledgling Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau and about the actions taken by the agency
during his tenure, including major new rules governing the mortgage
industry. Obama named Cordray at the same time as the NLRB nominees, and
his appointment is the subject of a separate lawsuit in D.C. federal
court.
The White House criticized the court ruling. “The decision
is novel and unprecedented, and it contradicts 150 years of practice by
Democratic and Republican administrations,” White House press secretary
Jay Carney told reporters Friday. “We respectfully but strongly disagree
with the ruling.”
Presidents from both parties have made hundreds
of recess appointments when the Senate has failed to act on
nominations. Ronald Reagan holds the record with 243. Obama’s
predecessor, George W. Bush, made 105, and it was during his term that
Senate Democrats began holding pro-forma sessions, some lasting less
than a minute, when the Senate went on break. They contended that that
kept the Senate in session and did not allow Bush to make recess
appointments.
Republicans took up the practice when Obama was
elected. But Obama decided to challenge it in January 2012, when the
Senate was on a 20-day holiday but holding pro-forma sessions every
three business days to block presidential action.